Filing equipment



Feb. 16, 1960 F. G. STARK 2,925,086

FILING EQUIPMENT Filed May 15, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 -1- @a H/ A. TORNEYS.

Feb. 16, 1960 F. G. STARK FILING EQUIPMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 15, 1956 IN VEN TOR Foresf G. Sfczflz.

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent FILING EQUIPMENT Forest G. Stark, Jamestown, N.Y., assignor to Art Metal Construction Company, Jamestown, NY.

Application May 15, 1956, Serial No. 584,926

2 Claims. c1. 129-16) This invention relates to vertical filing equipment, and more particularly to means for converting for example a standard correspondence vertical filing type drawer into a suspended filing type filing drawer.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide, in

kit form, a group of disassembled parts such as may be readily set up in a standard vertical filing drawer to convert the later from standard to, suspended filing type.

Another object of the invention is to provide, in combination, a novel, generally standard, type filing drawer and a kit of disassembled parts such as are readily adapted to be readily set up in connection with the standard drawer structure to convert the latter into a suspended filing system.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the specification hereinafter.

In the drawing: 1 Fig. 1 is a top perspective view of a standard type filing drawer converted to a suspended filing system by installation of accessory components in accord with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section, .on an en- 1. rged scale, taken along line 11-11 of Fig. 1;

.Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section taken along line III- III of Fig. 2;

r Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section, on an enlarged scale, taken along line IVIV of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section taken along the line V-V of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a disassembled perspective view of one of the components of the conversion kit of the invention;

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section taken along line VII- VII of Fig. 5; and

r Fig. 8 is a disassembled perspective .view of another 'slide or roller devices carried within the filing cabinet structure (not shown) as is well known in the art. Hence, the filing drawer structure hereinabove described is typical and complete for standard filing use where it is preferred to simply stand the filed letters, folders, envelopes, catalogues, or the like in upright attitude upon the bottom plate 18.

The device of the present invention, to be hereinafter described, renders the drawer readily convertible so as to be adapted to receive material to be filed in vertically suspended attitudes by slip-fitting the material to be filed into vertically hanging or suspended filing folders, as indicated generally at 25. The folders 25 are formed of cardboard or other suitable paper stock material ter- 1 2,925,086 Patented Feb. 16, 1960 minating in rolled upper edge portions as indicated at 26 receiving hanger rods 28. The rods 28 extend at opposite ends from the folders 25 as indicated at 29 to overhang and slidably rest upon support rails 30-30 running parallel to and in vertical alignment with the side panels 16-16 of the drawer construction at an elevationslightly below the elevation of the top edge of the drawer front panel 10. Thus, the rails 30-30 slidably support the filing pockets or folders 25 individually, whereby the latter may be selectively displaced lengthwise of the drawer incidental to rearrangement of the filing contents and/ or gaining access to different portions of the filed material.

The present invention particularly features thecombination of a standard type filing drawer as referred to hereinabove, and a kit of disassembled accessory components adapted to be slip-fitted into mounted relation to convert the filing drawer to a suspended filing system. The kit of parts includes the two side rails 30-30 hereinabove referred to, as well as novel means for vertically supporting the latter at their opposite ends relative to the standard filing drawer construction. Thus, as shown in Figs. 2-3; the inside head panel 34 of the drawer front l0is vertically slotted as indicated at 36 to receive in slip-fittedrelation therethrough the laterally. offset front ends of the rails 30-30. Thus, the front ends of the rails 30-30 are firmly maintained against displacement relative to the drawer front panel members 10-34 in any direction except longitudinally of the drawer. At their rear ends, the rails 30-30 are notched as illustrated at 40 (Fig. 8) to hook-fit into reduced size apertures 42-42 (Fig. 6) at the upper ends of corresponding posts 44; the rails 30-30 terminating at their rear ends in upwardly directed hook portions 46 which lock the rails 30-30 to the posts44-44 when the rails are in horizontal attitudes as illustrated inthe drawing. It will be appreciated that the apertures 42 are of a vertical height just slightly greater than the distance between the bottom edge of the rails 30 and the notches 40 and that the hook portions 46 are of such width as to be of less dimension that such verticalheight ofthe apertures whereby the hook portions 46 may be inserted into the apertures 42 with the posts 44 initially at obtuse angles to the rails 30, whereafter the rails and posts are brought together into substantially right angular relationship effecting a hooking of the ends of the rails into and through the apertures 42. To facilitate this interengagemerit of parts, the lower corners of the rails 30 im mediately below the hook portions 46 may be slightly rounded as is shown in Fig. 8 of the drawings. Thus, it will be appreciated, that the rails 30 are positioned against horizontal movements in any direction relative to the posts 44 by means of this simple hook-on connection device. A lip as indicated at 45 is provided at the bottom of the aperature 42 to obviate the possibility .of mistakenly assembling the rails 30-30 in upside down attitudes.

The posts 44-44 are arranged to be mounted in .verti cally upstanding attitudes at the rear end of the drawer as shown in Fig. l, for example, by slip-fitting the bottom tongue end portion 48 of the post through a slot 47 (Fig. 5) in the bottom plate 18 of the file drawer, while at the same time hooking a laterally bent tab portion 49 of the post member into a slot 50 formed in the side wall structure of the portions 20-20. The post parts are so dimensioned and arranged that upon simply slipfitting the post downwardly into the mounted positions shown in the drawing, the post is thereby firmly engaged with the standard drawer construction against any at cidental displacement in any direction therefrom.

Thus, it will be appreciated that in order to adapt a standard filing drawer to the purposes of the present back plate 19 of the filing drawer.

3 j invention, it is only necessary to originally fabricate the drawer at the factory (or to subsequently modify a standard drawer by punching or otherwise forming the parts) so as to include at its front end portion a pair of apertures 36-36 adapted to receive the front ends' of the rails 30-30 as shown in Fig. 2, and a pair of apertures '47 in the bottom panel 18 of the standard drawer at 1 its opposite rear corner portions so as to be adapted to receive bottom ends of the posts 44-44 as shown in the drawing. Also, the side wall structure of the drawer is slotted as indicated at 50-50 as to thereby permit the tongues 49-49 of the rear posts 44-44 to be hooked therein while being slip-fitted into upstanding positions at the rear end of the drawer. The rails 30-30 having been previously hook fitted into the aperture portions 42-42 at the top ends of the posts 44-44 are then slipped at their front ends into position in the apertures 36-36 at the front end of the drawer. The posts 44-44 "are then lowered into the drawer so that their bottom ends lock in the slots 47-47 while their tongues 49-49 lock in the slots 50-50. Thus, the frameassembly is .firmly mounted in the standard drawer, and the suspended file pockets may be then placed in operative position '-in the drawer by simply resting their cross bars 28-28 .to extend transversely of the rails 30-30 in operative position, as shown in Fig. l of the drawing.

. It isa particular feature of the arrangement of the .invention that the projection 48 at the bottom ends of 'the posts 44 is slightly hook-shaped and extends from the panel portion of the leg which bears against the Thus, when the post is force-fitted down into the bottom corner of the drawer the tongue 48 spring-locks into the aperture 47 through the bottom plate of the drawer, to hold the post against subsequent accidental lifting out of the drawer. Furthermore, as illustrated in Fig. 5, the slot 47 receiving the tongue 48 of the post is preferably made of a width dimension slightly greater than the width of the tongue as viewed in Fig. 5, whereby the upper ends of the posts may be readily adjusted toward or away from each other to accommodate slight dimensional discrepancies in the lengths of the folder hanger rods 28; the posts 44 in such case fulcruming upon the pivotable connections between the offset tongues 49 and the side walls of the drawer.

Thus,it will 'be appreciated'that by virtue of the present invention only a small number of easily and inexpensively fabricated parts may be furnished, in kit form, if preferred, in combination with a generally standard type filingdrawer or the like, whereby the latter will be readily convertible to and from either standard or suspended filing types; and that the conversion operation maybe easily performed by unskilled persons with- .out requiring the use of any tools whatsoever. Also, it will of course be appreciated that whereas only one specific form of the invention has been shown and described -in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention is not so limited but that various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

- I claim:

r 1. A filing drawer assembly comprising, in combination, an elongated horizontal bottom plate, a vertical front panel fixed to said bottom plate at one end thereof, a vertical inner head panel fixed to said bottom plate adjacent to but spaced from said front panel and forming therewith a drawer front, a vertical back plate fixed to said bottom plate at that end thereof remote from said front panel and in parallel relation to such front panel,

said back plate being of a vertical height less than i the height of said front panel, opposite side plates fixed to said bottom plate along the opposite sides thereof and extending between and fixed tosaid drawer frontand said back plate, said side walls being of vertical height substantially equal to the height of said back plate, said inner head panel being provided with an aperture spaced vertically above the upper edge of each side wall, said bottom wall having an aperture therein adjacent the juncture between each of the side walls and the rear panel, each side wall having an aperture therein adjacent the upper edge thereof and located in close proximity to said rear panel, a vertical post disposed at each rear corner of said drawer, each post being of right angular configuration in cross section presenting legs contiguous with a corresponding side Wall and said rear panel, each post having a depending tongue at its lower end projecting through a respective aperture in said bottomwall and each having an outwardly struck depending tab intermediate its ends projecting through an aperture in a respective side wall, each post having an aperture therein adjacent the upper end thereof with each such aperture being horizontally aligned with a corresponding aperture in said inner head panel, a horizontal rail positioned in spaced parallel relation above the" upper edge of each side wall, each rail having one end provided with an upwardly opening notch immediately adjacent such one end so as to present an upstanding hook, the height of each rail at its notch being just slightly less than the vertical heighto-f the corresponding aperture in the upper end of its associated post, each such hook being received in the aperture in a corresponding post with each notch receiving the upper end portion of the post immediately above the aperture therein, and the opposite end of each rail being received in a corresponding aperture in said inner head panel.

'2. The assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein each side wall is provided with a rail portion along its upper edge, each such rail portion including a horizontally disposed and laterally outwardly projecting shelf, an upstanding side wall portion and a generally inverted U-shaped upper end portion, said rail portions extending the length of said side walls and said apertures in the side walls receiving said tabs being formed in said shelf adjacent the juncture thereof with the lower portion of the side wall.

- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,147,975- Ruff July 27, 1915 1,787,410 Smiley Dec. 30, 1930 2,603,361 James July 15, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 515,373 Belgium .Nov. 29, 1952 

